Dads First Sushi

I went home last weekend for a long weekend (it has taken me a while to get my photos transferred from my phone to computer due to technical issues). On Friday, after a trip to the dentists and taking my car for its MOT (happily we both passed with no problems), Dad and I got the train into Birmingham city centre.

The main purpose was for Dad to try his first sushi. (Mom won't but she was at work anyway.) So after some shopping and a look around the city centre which has changed a lot since I was last there, we headed to the Arcadian area and found selected one of the Japanese restaurants I have googled.

Dad very much liked the warm sake.

Cheers!

Pretty sake.

We ordered a sushi and sashimi boat which lots of different options (and some extra grilled eel as it's my favourite).

I also forgot it would be the first time he used chopsticks! But he got the hang of them really quickly, much quicker than I did the first 5 times I used them! 

Unsure....

... nope, he likes!

We enjoyed a lot of sushi and sat finishing the sake until they basically kicked us out. We went for a walk to walk it all off. The around around the Arcadian is lovely. 

Dad had heard of a new fad that he wanted to try, cheese tea. Unfortunately all the places google maps came up with sold cheese and tea but not cheese tea. (I did google this and it is a real thing.) We walked all over the city centre looking for it before giving up and settling for a boring coffee instead. We got back a bit late - Mom was wondering where we had gone. But it was really nice spending the day with Dad. And I think he'll be having sushi again (he's already trying to figure out hick of his friends he can introduce it to).

BBC Good Food Festival

This weekend was the BBC Good Food Festival at Hampton Court and I decided to treat myself to a VIP ticket. (I am a member of Her Majesty's Royal Palaces so got into the festival free and a discount on the VIP ticket.)

When I checked in, I was offered a free ticket for a flower arranging class. So why not? (I did get there a little late as finding the white Marque was a bit harder than expected as they were all white!)

My flowers

Demo

I was definitely the odd one out in the class (only one on her own and below 50) but it was something different and the other people were all very lovely. My arrangement turned out ok but it was more of a "randomly stick them in the vase" exercise. I don't think my next career will be flower arranging.
But I did get the flowers to take home. :)

My "arrangement".

 After the class I rushed to the other side of festival for my cooking demo.

Showing a giant steak

Lisa Faulkner

I will admit I randomly picked a chef as without TV, I have lost track of who's who. She cooked a Spanish style steak and potatoes which smelt amazing! And I got a copy of the recipes t=so I will have to try it out at some point.

The best part of having a VIP ticket was somewhere shady to sit down and unlimited Champagne (the real stuff, not Prosecco), plus tea, coffee and soft drinks. And it was near to the pavilion with some great 50s live music.

View from my seat. 

Great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Once cooled and "hydrated", I went to do some shopping. There were loads of options though disappointing on the gluten food side.

However very well stocked on the gin side. :) It was hard to choose. (I did manage to get some little tasting sizes for an at-home gin tasting I am planning.)

So many options.

Followed of course by more Champagne before heading home. It was free and very nice! What is a girl to do? :)

Plus my feet were killing me! I really needed to sit down before the trip home.

Happier feet.

I did spend more money than I should have given I am saving for a holiday but I did managed to get about 30% of my Christmas gifts sorted. As well a few little treats for myself. There was a lovely non-alcoholic gin which tasted amazing, a real artisan gin, and some Garlic Vodka. It sounded odd and a bit disgusting so I had to try it and turns out pretty nice. It's made from sweet roast garlic and would go great in a liqueur coffee. Plus weird enough to be wonderful.

I also found out my only vase is now somewhat less than waterproof so had to make a couple of vases MacGyver style. 

Mother's Day

This year was the first time in a long time I have been home for Mother's Day. So we organized a family meal at the Halfpenny Green Vineyard restaurant. None of us had been to their restaurant before but we will all be going back. 

The family

The soon-to-be husband and wife

My lovely/crazy parents

Happy

The food was amazing and we split a few bottles of the Vineyards Rose wine. Their wines can be hit and miss (it is England after all) but these were really nice! We were going to do a wine tasting as well but were just too full. :) We did venture to the shop and pick up a few of said lovely bottles of wine. They have been redoing the shop and the deli seemed a bit bare. I am looking forward to going back when it is filled as they have some great foods.

Most of the last 2 weeks has been mostly working. I have started my Data Science Course (which is very hectic and a massive earning curve). I did managed to find some time before the course started to grab coffee with Sarah and baby Ben and get some snuggles.

He fell asleep on me

still sleep. 

Gorgeous giant feet

 Last week we took a family trip to Cheshire Oaks, an outlet area, looking for wedding outfits for mom and I. They have some really good bargains. And we made the most of it! We both managed to get our dresses (Mom even got her shoes and bag too) and Dad and Craig did equal damage on their own. Below is just our shopping; it doesn't include Craig and Kerrys. The boot was packed. :) I also treated myself to the cutest bag.

We brought the shops. All of them!

Too cute. 

Markets and music

It's been another dull few weeks with just lots of work. However I did go out to a house concert Friday night which was fun. Here are a few pictures from the night.

Ginger Lane community hall.

With audience.

And the Monkey house monkey in the background!

Saturday I went with Cait to the markets in Roanoke. But I was so busy buying tasty fun things I forgot to take any photos.  Oops! After she dropped me down South Main and I brought some new running shoes. (I have been putting it off as they are not cheap but it was time!) After that I hung around in coffee shops for a while before meeting a friend at the new Lebanese restaurant which opened a month ago. It was ok but not as good as I am used too. Still by Blacksburg standards, pretty damn good! Though we were both expecting a little more upscale (like with actual plates!). It was a fun day, topped off up a few glasses of wine at my favorite bar. 

Manchester Christmas Markets

On Thursday I got the train into Manchester (very early in the morning :-( ...) to work with a collaborator for the morning. We ended up in a small cafe near Oxford Road station for the morning, working and planning. But my train wasn't until 4pm so I ended up wondering around the Manchester  Christmas markets for some time.

Markets

They had the (in my opinion slightly creepy) Santa on the roof again.

Creepy Santa

The best things about any Christmas market is alway the food and drink! I had a very nice lunch of  hot dog (they made me my own GF one specially!) and garlic mushrooms. Though the mushrooms were called "Navy Mushrooms". There is no way they would serve those on a ship in a close space; there was too much garlic for me (and that takes a lot!).  The people on the train on the way home did not like me!

Giant cupcakes

I also had a nice glass of mulled apple wine.

Wine!

Little figures (not sure of what exactly)

I liked some of the gifts stuff but I have all my presents sorted out. I did buy some sausages though! They are really good! I ended up with a mixed bag of 7 different sorts, including one which I used to buy all the time when I lived in France and practically lived on it! Very happy.

Baubles

Reindeer whistles (You blow through their bum!)

The markets are very pretty. But I have to admit I do prefer the Birmingham ones, mainly because they have winter Pimms! I only went around the area by the town hall. The same stalls repeat in each of the sections it seems so there isn't much point.

On top of the pub

Cooking

Unfortunately and unsurprisingly it rained so I didn't stay very long. (It is North England after all.) But I did manage to go when there weren't many crowds (possibly the time of day, and the weather).

Rainy markets.

I escaped into the town hall for a bit where they had stalls selling clothes and jewelry. The only I saw was some lovely masks. (But it would be tricky to get the back to the States and I am trying to not buy things - I have to move everything in 6 months; the less the better!)

Town hall

Masks

I fond you really can't spend 3 hours around the markets so found a cafe with WIFI for a coffee for an hour before getting the (packed) train home.